With wild wigs, fake beards, accordion music and vodka, Belarusians mark Koliady, an ancient pagan holiday initially observed on the winter solstice but since appropriated to celebrate the Julian-calendar Christmas. These revelers were partying in the village of Napalki, some 40 miles north of Minsk. less

With wild wigs, fake beards, accordion music and vodka, Belarusians mark Koliady, an ancient pagan holiday initially observed on the winter solstice but since appropriated to celebrate the Julian-calendar ... more

Sorry, but I really had to go: A member of the dance group Wrecking Crew performs at the AUDI CES Keynote presentation at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

Sorry, but I really had to go: A member of the dance group Wrecking Crew performs at the AUDI CES Keynote presentation at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

Photo: Gabe Ginsberg, Getty Images For Audi

Sorry, but I really had to go: A member of the dance group... Photo-5697302.77376 - Beaumont Enterprise

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Just looking at this can shatter your arteries: A butter soda jerk serves a butter customer a butter milkshake as butter cows dance in the annual butter sculpture at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. In related news, Americans now eat 5.6 pounds of butter per capita, up from a low of 4.1 pounds in 1997, according to report in the L.A. Times. less

Just looking at this can shatter your arteries: A butter soda jerk serves a butter customer a butter milkshake as butter cows dance in the annual butter sculpture at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. In ... more

Photo: Sean Simmers, Associated Press

Just looking at this can shatter your arteries: A butter soda... Photo-5697301.77376 - Beaumont Enterprise

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There's your mom, and that's your dad: Biologist Laurie Thompson carries 4-1/2-month-old Bao Bao past photographs of her parents before the cub was weighed and measured at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington. less

There's your mom, and that's your dad: Biologist Laurie Thompson carries 4-1/2-month-old Bao Bao past photographs of her parents before the cub was weighed and measured at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in ... more

Illegal settlers clash with Palestinians: A Palestinian youth throws a rock at Israeli settlers in a building under construction near the West Bank village of Qusra. Palestinians detained more than a dozen Israeli settlers for about two hours in retaliation for the latest in a string of settler attacks on villages in the area, witnesses said. The Israeli military said the chain of events apparently began after Israeli authorities removed an illegally built structure in Esh Kodesh, a rogue Israeli settlement in the area. In recent years, rogue settlers have often responded to Israeli military interference by attacking Palestinians and their property in a tactic known as "price tag." less

Illegal settlers clash with Palestinians: A Palestinian youth throws a rock at Israeli settlers in a building under construction near the West Bank village of Qusra. Palestinians detained more than a dozen ... more

Sunlight streams through the windows of burned building in Plattsmouth, Neb. The icicles formed while firefighters were hosing down the blaze.

Sunlight streams through the windows of burned building in Plattsmouth, Neb. The icicles formed while firefighters were hosing down the blaze.

Photo: Nati Harnik, Associated Press

Sunlight streams through the windows of burned building in... Photo-5691549.77376 - Beaumont Enterprise

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What polar vortex? The skiing in Ruhpolding, Germany, where temperatures reached 46 degrees, is almost as good as it is in Tahoe. (Donner Ranch empty, virtually all of Squaw Valley's upper lifts closed.)

What polar vortex? The skiing in Ruhpolding, Germany, where temperatures reached 46 degrees, is almost as good as it is in Tahoe. (Donner Ranch empty, virtually all of Squaw Valley's upper lifts closed.)

Cold beef: Isabella Graff and her brother, Zadok, check on the family's cattle on their farm in Middletown, Ill.
Livestock can withstand frigid outside temperatures if they're cared for properly with food, water and shelter. less

Cold beef: Isabella Graff and her brother, Zadok, check on the family's cattle on their farm in Middletown, Ill. Livestock can withstand frigid outside temperatures if they're cared for properly with food, ... more

Fauna and games: The sledding is terrific at the Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in Harbin, China. Just be careful to avoid the polar bears. (Expo officials get upset when you knock them over.)

Fauna and games: The sledding is terrific at the Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in Harbin, China. Just be careful to avoid the polar bears. (Expo officials get upset when you knock them over.)

Photo: Lintao Zhang, Getty Images

Fauna and games: The sledding is terrific at the Harbin... Photo-5691568.77376 - Beaumont Enterprise